Financial troubles are not confined to the United States. Europe is wrestling with turmoil in its banking system as well.

European governments and central banks are scrambling to help struggling financial institutions.

Earlier this week, the German government and a consortium of private banks provided a $51.15 billion bailout for commercial lender Hypo Real Estate Holding AG, one of Europe's largest real-estate firms, the Wall Street Journal reported.

The Icelandic government nationalized the country's third-largest bank, Glitnir Bank, acquiring a 75 percent stake.

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin announced the government would devote $50 billion to banks so that they could make good on foreign loans that are coming due.

On Monday, banks' stock prices dropped amid speculation about which institutions were imperiled. Shares in the Belgian-French bank Dexia SA dropped 29 percent in Paris, as did shares in the Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC by 13 percent. Also in Britain, Barclays fell 8.8 percent.

Great Britain provided a nationalization plan for mortgage lender Bradford & Bingley PLC, part of which was to be sold to Spanish bank Banco Santander SA while taxpayers were to take control of some $92 billion in mortgages and other loans.

The governments of Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands tried to rescue the Dutch-Belgian bank Fortis NV as its shares fell 24 percent on Monday. In Germany, shares of Deutsche Bank lost 7.7 percent the same day.

The Journal writes: "The troubles in the banking sector reflect a malaise: Worries about banks' health are making it difficult for them to borrow the money they need to stay in business."

That is in spite of central bankers' efforts to inject markets with short-term loans. Banks have been reluctant to lend to each other for periods longer than a day.

Earlier this week, investors dumped financial shares after a series of bank bailouts undermined confidence in Europe's banking system.

"It seems like the world is going under," said Mattias Westman, chief executive of Prosperity Capital Management. "There was a feeling that this was an American problem, but as it turns out, there are serious problems in Europe, too."

As in America, addressing those problems will require governments and financial leaders to take decisive corrective action.